


Archie Hopper and Mehitabel

by Pteridophyta



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Free Verse, Gen, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-23
Updated: 2013-11-23
Packaged: 2018-01-02 10:20:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1055638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pteridophyta/pseuds/Pteridophyta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was a cat at the shelter<br/>named Mehitabel<br/>you see</p><p>I left her there</p>
            </blockquote>





	Archie Hopper and Mehitabel

**Author's Note:**

> Because I had a flash moment where I realized that he could hardly be named Archie by coincidence, and refuse to be swayed the fact that yes, it probably was coincidence, since turn-of-the-century newspaper columns tend to not be common reference material.
> 
> Oh, well.
> 
> Er, the column in question is Archy and Mehitabel, should you be wondering.

There was a cat at the shelter  
named Mehitabel  
you see

I left her there

This town is full of cowards  
who have done worse things than  
leave a cat that was never theirs

I can be forgiven  
for sundering a dyad  
that never  
truly  
existed in any real way you must remember  
that it is just a newspaper column  
most-of-a-century gone

And the confluence  
of an insect and cat  
and a name or two  
and poetry  
in a small town of stories  
is no reason to claim abandonment

I’m not sure how true the stories are, you see  
or the endings

To digress:  
I wrote vers libre in university  
for the literary journal  
(or for the story)  
but so do so many others  
and it never happened anyway you see  
so it doesn’t really matter and can’t  
mean very much

It is pretty safe to ignore the stories, we think  
or at least no one admits to worry

The Queen you see takes no  
account that in these stories  
there’s only one ending for her and hers  
and she did the curse  
so she would know

And the stories must not be important

So Mehitabel is at the animal shelter  
(and i am not archy at the typewriter boss)

I can be forgiven  
for this  
Pongo probably wouldn’t like her  
anyway

 

-Archie


End file.
